Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) says shareholders have approved the final arrangements that will result in the U.S. government owning 7.69 billion Citi common shares, or 33.6% of the bank’s outstanding shares. The company stated that the number of authorized shares of common stock will climb to 60 billion. Read more on this story at Marketwatch.

US Airways (NYSE: LCC) stated that August traffic fell 3.9% while capacity decreased 3.8% compared with the same month a year prior. Load factor, or the percentage of the plane filled with passengers, remained stable at 85.7%, according to Marketwatch.

Oil prices rose above $69 a barrel on Thursday, drawing support from a steep drop in U.S. gasoline inventories that renewed hopes of a recovery in demand by the world’s largest fuel consumer, as reported by Reuters.

Oracle Corp.’s (NASDAQ: ORCL) $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc. was placed on hold as the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation two weeks after U.S. regulators approved the deal. There are “serious doubts” about competition in the market for databases if Oracle acquires Sun, the European Commission in Brussels said in an e-mailed statement today. -Bloomberg

Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) said Thursday that August sales at stores, open for a period of at least 12 months, slipped 1.9%. Analysts from Thomson Reuters were expecting same store sales to decline by 0.6%. The company said sales "continued to be negatively impacted by a weak economy with high unemployment." –Marketwatch

Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits declined 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 570,000 in the week ended August 29 from an upwardly revised 574,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecasted new claims dropping to 560,000 last week from a previously reported 570,000. -Reuters

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) has a $329 billion market cap and sits on a $46 billion mound of cash.  The company spends about $8 billion per year in dividends, has been purchasing its own stock, and has more than enough earnings for its dividend coverage. Earnings are expected to be $3.94 EPS this year and its annualized dividend comes in around $1.68 per share. Last quarter alone Exxon spent $7 billion on dividends and share buybacks, according to 24/7 Wall St.

A recent pickup in the number of new companies filing for initial public offerings indicates U.S. stocks also are likely to continue pressing higher, at least until the market is overloaded with IPO filings. IPO filings have tracked the movement of the stock market fairly close over the past year. In March, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to its lowest levels in 12 years, there was just one IPO filing, according to Dealogic. In July, IPO filings reached 14, which was their first time in double digits since August 2008, when there were 16. This August, there were 16 filings. It is especially significant that the IPO filings increased during the summer, which typically is their slow season. –The Wall Street Journal

-Jutia Group